South Korea ferry crew go on trial

June 10 - Fifteen crew members go on trial over the deaths of at least 292 people on the South Korean Sewol passenger ferry in April. Sarah Toms reports.

▲ Hide Transcript

▶ View Transcript

The crew and captain of a South Korean ferry that sank in April are led into court.
They're on trial for charges, ranging from negligence to homicide after nearly 300 people -- mostly children -- died.
Angry and grieving relatives of the dead packed the courtroom, as they listened to proceedings.
One relative held up a sign that read: "You are not human. You are beneath animals." A scuffle later broke out between the relatives and court security guards who tried to take the sign away.
Most of the victims, who were from the same school on a field trip stayed in their cabins as instructed.
In contrast surviving crew members, including the captain captured here on video, abandoned the Sewol, leaving hundreds of passengers trapped inside.
The South Korean President said a nationwide manhunt is also under way for the businessman, who is believed to own the company that ran the sunken ferry.
(SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT PARK GEUN-HYE SAYING:
"Prosecutors and police have been making efforts to capture Yoo Byung-Un, but it does not make any sense that they haven't caught him yet. They need to recheck arresting methods and explore every possible means to bring Yoo to justice."
The captain and three senior crew members, who are charged with homicide face a maximum sentence of death.
The remaining crew members face lesser charges.
These 15 men have been in detention since their indictments.
But as the court is in Gwangju, the closest city to scene of the disaster where emotions are still running high, many say these men appear to have already been tried and convicted by an angry public even before the trial began.

World Rugby has advised players to cover-up tattoos during next year's World Cup in Japan, but many advocates for the body art hope the arrival of inked athletes sparks a debate in a country with a complicated relationship with tattoos

Three hundred man-made islands. Streets with artificial snow under a desert sun. This ambitious real-estate project in Dubai has laid largely dormant since the 2008 financial crisis, but one developer is trying to make it come back in a big way

A group of former rebel fighters, who traded their guns, battle fatigues and heavy rucksacks for paddles, helmets and life jackets, launch four rafts laden with visitors into the turbulent Pato River, deep in Colombia's dense Amazon jungle

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations, and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: